Program Reviews

After 5 years living in Shanghai, studying mandarin through different ways, and planning stay longer, I came to Silk mandarin for making a fast improvement. Since the first contact with Amy (sales team) I realized the school has a solid structure. Teacher Jane is insistent great, trying in different ways until we get it. After finish the HSK 3, Im still making several classes for speaking and listening. Planning to be back to fantastic school environment on August for HSK 4. Being with Silk mandarin I feel confident I'm on the way to speak well mandarin.

I took Silk Mandarin’s HSK2 course from 5 February - 7 May 2024. The class was held online, twice per week with 90 minutes in each session. The course was taught from 1000-1130 AM, Monday and Wednesday (time in China). Because I’m in the USA, the course times were perfect - it was the day before in the evening for me so I could do the class after work.

I was extremely impressed with Silk Mandarin and the course. They excel in so many areas, but the following items are particularly noteworthy:

1. The teacher - Qiying
2. Class size
3. Course Material, including presentations and videos
4. Course curriculum and approach
5. Homework and exercises
6. Silk Mandarin’s Slow Motion Technique
7. Silk Mandarin’s support staff - Nissa

I have struggled trying to learn Mandarin on my own for three years through the normal approach of apps, YouTube videos, and even some online courses I took. I wasn’t satisfied with my progress. I came across Silk Mandarin and did a free online trial class and was immediately impressed - so impressed that I signed up for the HSK2 course. I was struck by the proactive nature of the teacher, Qiying. She reached out to students prior to the class in the Classin platform (where the courses are taught) to prepare us for the course. Qiying is one of those rare teachers in life that you just can’t help but learn from. She has a gift for teaching, but she goes above and beyond what’s required to ensure her students are learning - and learning the right way. That comes from a genuine love of teaching and concern and care for her students. I still recall my best teachers from college many years ago whose teaching methods, style, and talent enabled you to absorb the material like a sponge, get straight As, and advance at an unparalleled rate. More importantly, I was able to retain the material with such teachers. Qiying is such a teacher, and it’s rare to find a teacher like her. She’s fluent in English (my native language), personable and fun, and extremely knowledgeable and dedicated. Qiying is simply stellar. When you couple that with her teaching abilities and the curriculum, you will quickly advance. I have a long way to go to be fluent in Mandarin, which is my goal, but I’m finally on the correct path to achieve that goal with Silk Mandarin’s and Qiying’s help.

Silk Mandarin’s class sizes are phenomenal. They intentionally keep the classes small, no matter what course you take. This enhances interaction, learning, and cross-talk between the students, which also improves the learning experience. I loved my class time twice per week with Qiying and the other student because I knew my learning experience was being optimized. I knew that I would be forced to engage and show what I learned each class session, but it was a friendly and nurturing environment - and it was fun. It was a non-threatening environment and was a recipe for advancement, retention, and learning.

Qiying’s and Silk Mandarin’s course material, curriculum, and approach are exceptional. The course I took was based on the HSK2 book, but the class was so much more than that. Qiying taught the key teaching points, grammar structures, vocabulary, correct usage, and provided many examples with detailed explanation; she had us do practical exercises, speak, read, and even learn characters. It was comprehensive in its coverage. I was doing homework throughout the week and prior to the next class, just like in college - but it was so much fun and rewarding. This is how you learn. The set of videos that Silk Mandarin uses are exceptional. They are meant to build upon the HSK2 grammar and vocabulary, and they are extremely helpful. I even got to the point where I could follow along with the dialog and theme of the videos. It was wonderful. I think the videos are a keep part of the multi-pronged approach Silk Mandarin uses to instill the foundation of Mandarin in the student; they then enhance the keep points of the video with exercises - speaking and written ones. Qiying was the guide in pulling all of this together, and she was masterful in doing that. The course material, curriculum, approach, and videos are rock-solid. The content is outstanding.

The homework and exercises were meant to reinforce what I learned in the prior class. Once done, I had to post my homework, and that resulted in a detailed and helpful review by Qiying. I found those reviews very helpful because it showed me where I needed to concentrate my attention and focus to grasp the concepts and improve. The next class was spent going over homework when necessary and in review of the concepts from the previous class. I felt like the homework, teacher’s reviews, and class reviews built upon each other to instill what Silk Mandarin was teaching us. I loved it.

Silk Mandarin has a concept that they call “Slow Motion Technique”- SMT. It is unique, brilliant, and extremely helpful. Any Chinese learner is eventually struck by how complex the grammar, sentence order, and structure can be in Mandarin once you get past a simple Subject-Verb-Object sentence. The SMT is meant to simplify the task of ordering words correctly. I think I will forever remember the words: “What comes first, we say first”. That simple realization is so helpful in assembling Mandarin sentences correctly. Silk Mandarin dedicates an entire video series to the SMT, and I learned so much from this approach when it comes to grammar, structure, and more importantly, how to think in Chinese. It’s an eye-opening way of thinking about Chinese sentence structure, and it is indeed brilliant. I will carry that teaching point with me forever.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the support staff at Silk Mandarin. From the first moment I came across Silk Mandarin, I was trying to figure out how to enroll, pay, attend class, participate, and execute this learning experience. Silk Mandarin assigns you a course proctor, and mine was Nissa. She’s amazing, professional, knowledgeable, fluent in English, and just made everything easy. She took care of everything, was extremely helpful, guided me, and let me focus on the task at hand - learning Mandarin. All my worries about the logistics and signing up just went away with her help. I am so impressed with Nissa and extremely grateful for her knowledge, help, and engagement. She’s also awesome, just like Qiying. Nissa also went above what’s required, and her professionalism, knowledge, and love of what she does will always stay with me. Thank you, Nissa - you’re awesome!

Overall, my learning experience with Silk Mandarin was exceptional, rewarding, amazing, nurturing, and worth the time and money. The classes are cheaper than college semester courses in the USA, run longer, are more personable, and better value. It was worth every penny, and I have already signed up for HSK3 with Silk Mandarin. I intend to keep learning with them and Qiying, all the way through HSK6. Silk Mandarin is a treasure if you are trying to learn Mandarin. After this experience, I can’t imagine trying to learn Mandarin any other way. I would recommend Silk Mandarin to any Chinese learner. Their course offerings are comprehensive, tailored, flexible, and in-depth, no matter what your learning goals are. My Chinese learning adventure for the next several years will be with Silk Mandarin, and I look forward to the exciting, rewarding, and fulfilling learning that lies ahead - thanks to Qiying, Nissa, and Silk Mandarin. This is a stellar language school. Thank you Silk Mandarin, Qiying, and Nissa!

I have done Chinese at Silk during HSK2 level twice per week.

The materials are useful, and there are many videos that explain the grammar points and the new vocabulary. I did the course with Qiying, and she is a great teacher. Qiying is really patient during the classes and give us many examples and activities to practice everything.

I would recommend the course to anyone who wants to start learning Chinese or to those who already know some but want to improve it.

So far everything has been good.

When I arrived in China last September I knew only a few words of Chinese and was an absolute beginner. I had had a couple of lessons with a native speaker but was unable to express even the most basic of sentences in a supermarket, coffee shop or at the market.
Silk Mandarin's course has made a difference because it gave me an overview of the basic structure of the language which meant I was quickly able to make myself understood in short exchanges.
Perhaps, more importantly, their online materials are always available so the learner can pace their revision and have a handy reference point to check when doubts arise.
The most surprising aspect of these were the 'real-life' dialogue videos which gave insight into daily life and tendencies in Shanghai.
The course was recommended to me by a colleague who had previously tried other schools and had found, above all, Silk Mandarin's approach to tones very helpful.
I was also pleased with how the school reacted when I needed to change the timetable due to work commitments. The 1-to-1 course I was offered was highly beneficial in increasing my confidence. Qiying is an extremely thoughtful teacher who is always available with feedback and help!
All in all, I would recommend it to those who are 100% committed to learning and want to move quickly.

Prior to starting Silk Mandarin’s Blended Learning Course, my learning experience consisted of the hundreds of hours spent on a few of the popular language apps on my cellphone. When we moved overseas to China this past August, I learned quickly that this method is not going to be enough for me to carry out a relatable sentence, yet alone, a conversation with someone local.
I found out about Silk Mandarin through a Chinese New Year ad on social media. CoCo has been a pleasure to work with. She explains the program courses in detail, listens to your wants/needs, any concerns/feedback, & always follows-up. In just a couple of months, 3 hours per week, I’ve learned so much more and have a deeper understanding of the Chinese language & culture. This course has given me a strong foundation to build upon. I just completed the HSK 2 private 1:1 course with my teacher, Yanqin. She is amazing & well-spoken! She knows more about the English speech structure better than I do. Her teaching-style, patience, & humor makes learning Chinese fun. I always look forward to our classes, so-much-so, that I’ve enrolled in & will soon start our HSK 3 lessons.

After not having spoken Chinese for a long time, I was very insecure about my speaking skills so I decided to book 20 online one-on-one lessons. After four classes my fluency and confidence were already improving thanks to my wonderful teacher who made me feel comfortable enough to speak and with whom I had a lot of fun during the classes. Everyone was super flexible adapting to my schedule as well as my current Chinese level and fully accomodated my expectations from the classes and personal goals. Would highly recommend!

Prior to Silk Mandarin I had no knowledge of Mandarin, but I had strong desire to learn.

I came to Shanghai for work in the beginning of 2023, and since I planned to stay in China for a while (more than 3 years), then of course learning Mandarin was a necessity as one cannot rely on phone translators forever. My first experience was with another school, however they lacked enough structure for my taste and the lessons felt very disorganised and structureless. However, my work colleague told me of another school nearby that they and their friend have had great experience with: quicker learning, structured lessons, friendly staff - the full package.

Firstly, the pricing and flexibility of Silk Mandarin gave a very positive first impression and it made the cumbersome non-language-learning part of the process much easier: easy to pay, to plan classes, a lot of flexibility and guidance. Additionally, if I had an emergency or preoccupied with work, switching to an online lesson was incredibly easy, although I preferred offline classes overall.

Secondly, I finally felt an astronomical increase in my perception of the Chinese language and characters. Mainly, the structure and professionalism of the lessons ignited an actual desire to practice outside of class, either with downloading Pleco to practice han-zi, or using DuChinese to practice listening and comprehension. However you feel about "studying by the book", sometimes it is warranted, and the last thing you want in your language learning is a lack of structure. Although Silk Mandarin don't go strictly by the book, i.e. chapter by chapter, they are able to streamline and compress the HSK books into a digestible, easy-to-revise format.

Thirdly, the main methods of revising/homework/practice provided by Silk Mandarin (ClassIn) proved to be the most efficient and easy to use. My only other experience with a Chinese learning school was lacklustre as it only provided a web portal. Having an application like ClassIn on my android phone and Mac made it so much easier to practice on the train/car/office/etc. without the difficulties of websites that sometimes glitch out on the phone.

Lastly, the positive vibes are paramount to a good learning experience. I have difficulties balancing my work obligations with extracurricular activities, being it language learning or just going out, but the positive atmosphere and personal contact from the teaching staff made me *want* to learn to balance these things and actually improve my Mandarin. It's one thing to translate on your phone, but a whole other feeling to speak the language of the land you are a guest in and fully immerse yourself.

I plan to not only continue studying at Silk Mandarin (after 2 months), but hope to return the favour by speaking fluently and fully appreciating their country and culture. Would recommend whole-heartedly.

Yanqin is WONDERFUL! She is a well-prepared teacher and is patient. I always leave the lessons with really useful language to practice and to use. Excellent Mandarin class. Much appreciated! :)

Yanqin ist eine sehr tolle Lehrerin. Sie ist immer sehr gut vorbereitet und hat wirklich viel Geduld. Man lernt in jeder Unterrichtsstunde hilfreiche Redewendungen und Begriffe für den Alltag. Der Mandarin Unterricht macht einfach Spaß. Danke für die Unterstützung und schöne gemeinsame Zeit beim Lernen. :)

Learning with Silk has been fantastic. Sisi (teacher) and Coco (sales) have been incredibly easy to work with and very helpful. Coco has been very thorough in explaining the different instructions options/pricing and consistently follows up. Sisi is great at clearly explaining language points I may be struggling with and is fun to work with.

My language skills have increased dramatically since beginning my study with Silk. When I speak with Chinese natives, they are frequently surprised at my progression and how much I have in such a short time.

I elected for 1-on-1 teaching sessions, which turned out to be a very good choice. The instruction that I receive is tailored to my specific needs (i.e. less pronunciation, more vocabulary). Also, the flexibility that the 1:1 sessions offer allows me to reschedule as conflicts come up.

Overall, the instruction is high quality and priced fairly.

It was pure accident that I ran into the website of Silk Mandarin. But our communication with CoCo was sooooo smooth that I decided to take a trip with my kids so that my 7 y.o. son could take classes with Silk Mandarin for 2 weeks on Suzhou. We've already had some learning experience but the problem is that having several 30-mins classes a week my son could understand Mandarin pretty well but speaking was a but of a problem.
We've spent 2 amazing weeks with the team, they did everything as agreed beforehand and it was just perfect! My son could show his knowledge and could gain a lot more, thanks to the teachers' efforts and the homework we had to do almost every day. The teacher even took him once to a local market to buy some souvenirs. My son was super excited about this opportunity！Now that we are back home my son keeps saying "next time we are in Suzhou, I will...", the way he makes plans for his future studies makes my heart melt.